Trackhouse Racing's Shane van Gisbergen finished first to score his sixth career Cup Series win in 46 starts, and fifth of the season. Teammates Daniel Suárez finished seventh and Ross Chastain finished 21st in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at the Charlotte ROVAL.
Van Gisbergen earned Trackhouse Racing's 14th Cup Series win as an organization and sixth of the season.
The Charlotte ROVAL win marks Van Gisbergen's fifth consecutive win on a road course.
The Charlotte ROVAL race marked the sixth of NASCAR's 10 playoff races and served as the final race in the second round of the playoffs.
With his 21st-place finish Sunday, Chastain missed the Playoffs Round of 8 by four points after a valiant effort in the closing laps to challenge Joey Logano for the spot.
Van Gisbergen had another stellar road course day. He took the lead in Stage 1 and swapped it with a couple of competitors throughout the 109-lap event before capturing the win. Sunday's result marked his fifth top-five of the season.
Chastain had two solid stage results in an effort to try and collect enough bonus points to advance him into the Playoff Round of 8. He ran hard throughout the end of the race to makeup for his driving error. He made a scheduled pit stop on lap 87 but was caught speeding while exiting pit road and forced to make a pass-through penalty under green. Chastain powered through and made an effort to get his track position back and he was well on his way to advancing in the playoffs until the closing laps and a 21st-place finish.
Suárez used pit strategy to gain track position and found himself in the top-five for several laps throughout the event. For most of the day, the Choice Privileges driver ran in the top-12 before finishing seventh, earning his seventh top-10 of the season.
Stage 2 saw varying pit strategies for the Trackhouse drivers. Suárez stayed out to begin the stage in fourth and held a top-five position until he made a scheduled pit stop on lap 47. He ended the second stage in ninth. Chastain was forced to start 30th after visiting pit road and missing the pit road exit turn. He rallied and never pitted during the stage to finish fourth and earn seven bonus points. Van Gisbergen started 12th and maintained stellar track position and ended the stage fifth after visiting pit road just before it closed.
In the first stage, Van Gisbergen started second and took the lead on lap four and relinquished it for a pit stop during the stage but regained the lead in time to win Stage 1. Chastain started 10th and worked his way forward to finish Stage 1 in the fifth position and earned six crucial bonus points. Suárez started 20th and gained positions before slipping back and ending the stage, 20th.
SHANE VAN GISBERGEN
You said last year you struggled with the ROVAL, but you dominated today. A great strategy today.
“Yeah, it’s unbelievable. Kyle (Larson) and Christopher (Bell) were racing really well today. They had a bit of speed on me and then got going at the end. Thank you to WeatherTech, Chevrolet, everyone at Trackhouse Racing. Our car was fast and really amazing today. Just an unreal year that we have had.”
Now you have the ROVAL and you got your first top-10 on an oval last week, so the sky is the limit now, right?
“Yes, things are going well. We are getting better and better, and we’re having a blast doing it. Just speechless. It was certainly a good race, and I am so happy for everyone.”
ROSS CHASTAIN
If you got that last lap back, what would you have done differently?
“I would restart the whole day for this No. 1 Busch Light Chevrolet team. They expect so much more out of me. I went off the end of pit road and didn’t turn. I thought I had more room and I was just trying to get to the yellow line. I just completely started the downfall there. And then I came out of the pit stall, double-clicked up into third and sped on pit road. It was just unforced errors. It’s heartbreaking for almost 200 employees at Trackhouse Racing, our teammates, ECR engines, everybody that makes this go around. Justin (Marks) hired me to drive this No. 1 Chevrolet and be a leader, and I just completely unraveled our day. We definitely had the speed. On the last lap in turn seven, I downshifted into third, slid the rear tires and let the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) by. It’s just not acceptable. " “I would say a month before the playoffs until now, this team gave me everything I needed to get to the Round of Eight. We have a team that could go fight for the top-four. We had a top-four car, and we were a top-eight car a month ago and I just took that away from us today with some unforced errors. A terrible body of work today. When you work 20 years, studying and try to be ready for these moments and you fail, it’s a terrible feeling. But I will get up tomorrow and get back to work.”
DANIEL SUAREZ
"That was a hard fought top-10 finish. The guys did a nice job working on pit strategy and giving us a solid Choice Privileges Chevy today. Looking forward to closing out these last few races of the season with some more strong runs."
